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Pilihan raya lokal hakis hak Melayu?

Saifuddin Abdullah
Sinar Harian
3 OGOS 2015

MINGGU lalu, Presiden Pas Datuk Seri Abdul Hadi Awang menuduh DAP “cauvinis” kerana ingin mengadakan semula pilihan raya Pihak Berkuasa Tempatan (PBT). Enam bulan terdahulu, beliau menyatakan yang pilihan raya tersebut akan menghapuskan hak keistimewaan orang Melayu.

Saya tidak terlibat dengan perselisihan antara beliau dengan DAP. Tetapi, saya tidak bersetuju dengan pendapatnya tentang hak orang Melayu dalam konteks pilihan raya PBT.

Pada 13 Mac 2015, saya telah menyampaikan syarahan khas bertajuk “Adakah Pilihan Raya PBT Menghakis Hak Keistimewaan Melayu” di Persidangan PBT di Malaysia: Menilai Laporan Athi Nahappan Untuk Masa Kini, anjuran Penyelidikan Untuk Kemajuan Sosial (REFSA). Teks syarahan itu diterbitkan dalam REFSA Quarterly, Isu 1 2015.

Saya mula berbicara dan menyokong diadakan semula pilihan raya PBT sejak 1986. Saya pernah menjadi Ahli Majlis PBT Temerloh selama enam bulan, pada 2007, iaitu sebelum menjadi Ahli Parlimen Temerloh pada 2008-2013. Oleh kerana pada saya, Majlis Daerah dan Majlis PBT tidak partisipatori dan representatif, maka, sebagai Ahli Parlimen, saya telah menubuhkan mini-parlimen tempatan, iaitu Majlis Perundingan Parlimen Temerloh. Continue reading “Pilihan raya lokal hakis hak Melayu?”

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More politics or less in local elections?

– Liew Chin Tong
The Malaysian Insider
17 July 2015

There are two sets of contradictory ideas when it comes to the discussion of local democracy in Malaysia.

While many call for local elections, there are also some activists who call for “less politics, more professional appointments” to local councils.

At a conference on decentralisation in Penang in September 2014, a social activist and local councillor said Malaysians should emulate Seoul for electing an NGO mayor and he went on to argue the ills of having politicians at the council level. Continue reading “More politics or less in local elections?”

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When did PAS Muktamar pass a resolution to oppose restoration of the third vote as since the seventies, PAS position in Parliament was to support restoration of local government elections?

The restoration of the 50-year suspension of local government elections is an important building block not only for democracy but also for plural nation-building in Malaysia.

It has nothing whatsoever with the 3Rs of race, religion or rulers, as some are trying to imply.

Like other countries, local government is concerned with the other 3Rs of “Rates, Roads and Rubbish” although the scope of local government responsibility has expanded by leaps and bounds worldwide, such as including community services like libraries and parks, tourism, urban renewal, community health services, accessible transport and pollution control.

Elected local government is to empower citizens with the democratic right to participate in the third tier of democratic governance to take ownership of the decision-making process about their immediate environs – serving as a training ground for citizens in the direct experience of democratic governance at the grassroots level.

The restoration of local government elections, or the third vote, has recently and suddenly become a subject of controversy, marked by many myths, misconceptions and downright lies. Let us deal with some of them. Continue reading “When did PAS Muktamar pass a resolution to oppose restoration of the third vote as since the seventies, PAS position in Parliament was to support restoration of local government elections?”

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PAS veteran backs DAP’s third vote bid

The Malay Mail Online
February 3, 2015

KUALA LUMPUR, Feb 3 — Despite his party president’s opposition, PAS veteran Datuk Wan Abdul Muttalib Embong has voiced support for DAP’s bid to restore local government elections.

The former lawyer who had also previously acted as the Islamist party’s legal adviser said withholding local elections from being carried out showed democracy was only being half-practised, Sinar Harian reported today.

“We don’t know what their structure is like but (what’s wrong) in in us giving democracy?

“Do you (the government) want 50 per cent democracy? Can’t be like that, you (as the government) are not transparent,” he was quoted saying by the Malay daily.

Wan Abdul Muttalib said since elections were already being held at the state and federal levels, the third vote should also be restored to show that Islamic administrators were also just. Continue reading “PAS veteran backs DAP’s third vote bid”

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Property re-valuation – not done for 21 years?

by Joseph Tan
(Letter to DAP MP for Segambut, Lim Lip Eng)

I am one of your constituents in TTDI

I like to bring to your attention some facts to dispute the lies perpetrated by the Minister and Mayor regarding above subject.

The only justification offered by the authorities for this unreasonable increase is that the property values have not been revised since 21 years ago. Since I have records to cover the past 21 years, I will share the actual history for everyone’s awareness. This will demonstrate with facts, the blatant lies being told.

Here are my records since I moved into my property:- Continue reading “Property re-valuation – not done for 21 years?”

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Selayang Council must come clean

R. Nadeswaran
The Sun Daily
30 October 2012

IN early February, 2006, I was at the Kuala Lumpur International Airport awaiting the arrival of passengers on Flight MH9042 from Mauritius. Among them was a delegation from the Selayang Municipal Council which included nine councillors, the president, the secretary and his wife, two officials and four businessmen who had contracts with the council. They had also dropped by South African cities, among others, to study how public toilets are maintained and kept clean. I had then asked: “How did contractors become part of an official delegation? Don’t the rules require councillors to keep at arm’s length, dealings with suppliers of goods and services?”

Subsequently, I wrote outlining their programme in both the countries and asked what they had learnt when they were out shopping and sight-seeing all the time. As usual, the silence was deafening.

All these memories came back last week as I read about the same council and the proposed development around Batu Caves. Both sides – the present and past administrations – have started pointing fingers and let it be stated that it is not this writer’s intention to take sides but put the record straight. The remarks made by some of the past councillors who approved the development are so ludicrous that they have to be taken with more than a pinch of salt.

Former councillor and current Deputy Foreign Minister Datuk A. Kohillan Pillay who was one of those who went on the toilet inspection trip said what had been approved in 2007 was only a “planning permit” which did not specify the number of storeys.

May be, after all these years he has forgotten terms like “planning permission”; “development order” and other terminology because he is concentrating on foreign policy matters and more travelling. Thus, we shall not burden him compelling him to read the Town and Country Planning Act 1990 in its entirety. However, he should not overlook the central concept – the definition of what amounts to development. Continue reading “Selayang Council must come clean”

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Councils save millions in managing waste disposal

By Susan Loone
Dec 2, 10
Malaysiakini

Just by renegotiating with the contractor to reduce the cost of transporting solid waste within the state, two local councils in Penang have saved RM33 million of the people’s money.

The money, in the form of surcharge payment to the contractor, will be reclaimed by the two municipal councils – Penang Island and Seberang Perai.

“Imagine how much Umno cronies had profited before this and caused a burden to the people,” said Penang Chief Minister Lim Guan Eng at a Seberang Perai Municipal Council function today.

He said following the Auditor-General’s advice, the municipal councils were tasked to reclaim the surcharge money paid to the contractor , which amounted to RM222,880.
Continue reading “Councils save millions in managing waste disposal”

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Najib has forgotten his first promise as PM that “The era where the government knows best is over”

The Prime Minister, Datuk Seri Najib Razak has forgotten his first promise as Prime Minister in April last year that “The era where the government knows best is over” when he gave an instinctive “No” to the proposal by the Penang Chief Minister and DAP Secretary-General Lim Guan Eng for the restoration of local government elections even without referring to his Cabinet.

This is most irresponsible on the Prime Minister’s part. The important issue of restoration of local government elections deserve more serious response from the Prime Minister, the Cabinet and the government.

In fact, one prominent article in a current magazine which belongs to the Umno stable of media publications, has the lead article: “Getting Local Councils to Deliver” and posing the question: “A recent survey showed that local councils are a big letdown to rate payers. Will having local council elections, or better, yet, the Government Transformation Plan, help?”

Najib’s instant and summary rejection of the idea of local government elections could be interpreted as the Prime Minister having little confidence or even having utter contempt for the Local Government Minister Datuk Seri Kong Cho Ha and the KPI Minister, Tan Sri Dr. Koh Tsu Koon who is supposed to spearhead the 1Malaysia Government Transformation Programme (GTP) Roadmap.
Continue reading “Najib has forgotten his first promise as PM that “The era where the government knows best is over””

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Cabinet on Wednesday should give “green light” for legislative action to allow state governments like Penang to restore local government elections

The Penang State Executive Council has made a historic decision to restore local government elections for Penang which was suspended 45 years on 1st March 1965 because of Indonesian Confrontation which ended in the latter part of 1966.

If elections to the two Municipal Councils of Penang, the Municipal Council of Penang Island (MPPP) and the Municipal Council of Seberang Prai (MPSP) are held at this time, it would be doubly meaningful because the last local council elections in Malaysia was held half a century ago in 1961.

In fact, there would be a triple significance as the first-ever elections held in the country was for the Municipal Council of George Town on Dec. 1, 1951 – marking the 60th anniversary commemoration of the start of the nation’s electoral history.

Following the historic decision of the Penang State Government to restore the third vote, with the Penang Chief Minister Lim Guan Eng writing to the Election Commission to conduct local government elections for the two municipalities in Penang, the Cabinet on Wednesday should give the “green light” for legislative action to be taken to allow state governments like Penang to restore local government elections.
Continue reading “Cabinet on Wednesday should give “green light” for legislative action to allow state governments like Penang to restore local government elections”

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Ipoh City Council , do not intimidate the people!

By Augustine Anthony; Chairman, Ipoh City Watch

The City of Ipoh has an approximate population of 710,000 people. Not all are well versed with legal principles to scrutinize and understand news report that may send panic and jittery feelings amongst the residents, especially if such news report touches on legal issues.

It is for this reason that those who are in positions of authority, when called upon to make an announcement in public or when called upon to give a press statement, exercise great care to prevent anxiety and anger amongst the residents.

Take for example the recent news report that appeared in the Star newspaper on 03.08.2009 under caption “Door to door collection” in which, the said news was carried in the following fashion:-

“Ipoh city folks who have defaulted in their assessment payments should not be surprised if they receive knocks on their doors from Ipoh City Council enforcement officers. Datuk Bandar Datuk Roshidi Hashim said the council had sent out enforcement teams to demand payment from defaulters.”

Read the full Star Online report here

If indeed the Mayor had said this as reported in the news paper, then one possessed with some legal knowledge would think of it as an irresponsible comment that is likely to send wrong signal to the public.
Continue reading “Ipoh City Council , do not intimidate the people!”

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Landmark achievement of Tawau “Don Quixote” case in defence of open spaces

I commend the Tawau Municipal Council (TMC) for admitting that the Sabindo development and encroachment of Tawau open spaces is illegal and invalid and I call on Sabindo developers, Jeramas Sdn Bhd and Aggasf Construction Sdn. Bhd to emulate the example of TMC to reach an amicable “win-win” settlement for the interests of the people of Tawau.

DAP leaders and I had attended several public meetings in Tawau over the scandal of the encroachment and deprivation of the open spaces in Tawau, subordinating the public interests of the people of Tawau to private profit-making in disregard of the law and public policy.

DAP MP for Seputeh Teresa Kok and I had also raised in Parliament the issue of the lack of municipal good governance as illustrated by the Sabindo open space scandal, with the Tawau municipality teeming with “Little Napoleons” defying the Prime Minister and the Sabah State Cabinet in depriving the fundamental right of the people of Tawau to open spaces and recreational grounds.

I was very uplifted when I was informed last night by Jimmy Wong (alias Tiger Wong of Tawau) – who together with nine other public-spirited Tawau ratepayers had taken the TMC to court on the unlawful Sabindo development project and the encroachment of the Tawau open spaces and recreational grounds – that the Tawau people had achieved a classic and landmark breakthrough in their long, arduous and uphill battle to protect the “open spaces” in Tawau not only for the people of Tawau but also for the people Sabah and Malaysia. Continue reading “Landmark achievement of Tawau “Don Quixote” case in defence of open spaces”

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Is PM AAB above the law?

by Loh Meng Kow

According to Star, PM AAB commenting on the arrest of eight people, including four lawyers, for taking part in an illegal march here yesterday, and said: Lawyers are not above the law.

Federal Constitution: Section 10. Freedom of speech, assembly and association has four clauses. It reads (1) Subject to Clauses (2), (3), and (4)-

(a) every citizen has the right to freedom of speech and expression;

(b) all citizens have the right to assemble peaceably and without arms;

(c) all citizens have the right to form associations.

Section 4. Supreme law of the Federation reads (1) This Constitution is the supreme law of the Federation and any law passed after Merdeka Day which is inconsistent with this Constitution shall, to the extent of the inconsistency, be void.
Section 27 of the police Act 1967, and section 141 of the penal code deal with assembly, and they can only provide guidelines on how assembly should be conducted. They cannot go against Section 10 (1) in making assembly illegal since that would be inconsistent with the Constitution and therefore be void. Continue reading “Is PM AAB above the law?”